The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about children’s services. That is because the complaint is late.
The complaint
Mr X complained about the support Children’s Social Care provided his child, B. He said the Council did not provide services it had identified B as needing; frequently changed their social worker and did not have a clear plan for B’s future. Mr X was also unhappy with the Council’s stage one complaint response.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended) We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide: further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X complained to the Council in 2022 about the support it was providing B. The Council considered the complaint through the Children’s Statutory Complaints procedure. It sent him its final stage three adjudication letter in May 2023. Mr X did not complain to the Ombudsman until June 2024. Therefore, this is a late complaint, and we should not investigate. Late complaints are when it takes someone more than 12 months to bring a complaint to us about what the Council has done. It was reasonable for Mr X to come to us sooner, if he was unhappy with the outcome of his complaint.
In any event, even if this complaint was not late, we would not investigate. The statutory children’s complaints procedure was set up to provide children, young people and those involved in their welfare with access to an independent, thorough and prompt response to their concerns. The Ombudsman would not normally re-investigate a complaint that has been considered under this procedure, unless there were any flaws in the stage two investigation or stage three review panel that could call the findings into question. There is no evidence of flaws in either of these stages, and I am satisfied the Council has properly considered Mr X’s concerns. Further investigation by us would not come to a different outcome.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is late.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman